OMS Technology Classes Receive Typing Masks
by Jason Smith
April 03, 2009
Olympia Middle School technology teacher, Jason Smith, has successfully received funding to complete a proposal posted on DONORSCHOOSE.ORG. Mr. Smith’s proposal sought funding for 30 opaque typing masks for his keyboarding class. The dark colored typing masks fit snugly over the keyboard and prohibit students from seeing the keys so that they can learn to type without watching their fingers.
Donorschoose.org is a website where teachers can request funding for classroom supplies, teaching aides and equipment. The public can log on and donate any amount of money to the project of their choosing. Mr. Smith’s project received funding mostly from friends and relatives, but a generous donation was given by the Hopedale Betterment Association. (see archived article on the Middle School page of Olympia.org, concerning Mr. Smith’s classes redesigning the Hopedale website).
Mr. Smith wrote the typing mask proposal to help students break their habit of constantly looking, or hunting and pecking, at the keyboard. As computer usage becomes more commonplace in schools and everyday life, looking at the keyboard becomes a less effective way to type. Currently students look at the text to be typed, try to remember it, look at the keyboard to type, glance at the screen to see if everything is correct and then look back to the text to find the next words to type. By memorizing the keyboard, students could look at the text, type without looking, and look back and forth between the screen and the document, thus cutting down on the areas where mistakes could be made.
Now, with the aid of the opaque typing masks, students will have a reason to stop looking at the keyboard. Students will be able to memorize the keyboard by completing typing exercises created through Microtype software. They will be able to focus on key location and train themselves to move their fingers without looking.
The typing masks will be a helpful addition to the 6th grade keyboarding class, as they learn to memorize the keyboard. The masks will also be used for keyboarding review exercises for 7th and 8th graders. It will challenge all students to try something new and hopefully get them to think differently (or not at all) about typing.
